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Friday, April 10, 2015

UFC Fairfax: #punchesandpancakes

Last weekend's featherweight extravaganza featured two of the best fighters in Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas head-to-head, to decide the next title challenger in arguably the most stacked division in the UFC.

Mendes would end the fight in devastating fashion with a first round TKO of Lamas. The win propelled Mendes back into the title picture. Within the next couple of months depending on what happens in the Connor McGregor/Jose Aldo match upMendes could be up against Aldo to fulfill their trilogy, or against McGregor in what could be the Irishman's first title defense.Either scenario is a possibility posing very different yet very intriguing match ups.Mendes and Lamas were just two of the weekend's biggest winners and losers. Here is a look back at my experience covering an MMA fight for the first time.10 A.M. FIGHT NIGHT?

In what can only be assumed as a way for the UFC to avoid going up against the NCAA's Final Four games last Saturday, The Fairfax fight card kicked off in the early hours of the day.

The UFC used the hashtag #punchesandpancakes as the trending topic for fans to participate and tweet about the fights as they happened.

FANBOY Moment...

Prior to the fight, I decided that I would do a live play-by-play of the fights, and I tweeted out to the hashtag that the UFC had set up.

Despite misspelling the word Pancakes, the UFC favorited my tweet, which was one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me while tweeting.

Dustin Poirier would be successful in his move up to 155 lbs. Julianna Pena had her comeback beating her opponent via TKO in the first round, Michael Chiesa would get his redemption after suffering a TKO/Cut lost against Joe Lauzon in his last outing.

Then there was the Masvidal vs. Iaquinta fight, which would end in controversial fashion and create the biggest buzz of the day in the MMA world.

The fight would go to a decision with the judges giving the nod to Iaquinta, 2 rounds to 1.

People in the fight world disagreed with the decision, as a lot of fans--including me--had Masvidal winning the fight 2-1.

What would happen afterwards would take people's post fight reactions in the Twitter world to the next level as "Raging" Al Iaquinta would live up to his name.

The Fairfax crowd yelled out their disagreement of the decision, setting off Iaquinta in a fit of rage.

Iaquinta turned to the crowd yelling out expletives while being interviewed after the fight on live television.

Reaction was swift on Twitter, highlighted by UFC President Dana White who was speechless.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT:I really enjoyed covering my first live UFC event via Twitter. It gave me a chance to participate with other people as they watch the fights even though we weren't all there. Fights are different from other sports in that if a fight goes to a decision, no one really knows who wins for sure. Only by watching it with other people or participating in a conversation with other people can one truly gauge who is winning in a close fight.It was also a good experience for me, because at some point it will be what I am going to be doing as a professional.